Here, My Nadir

Every truly repulsive trend has a nadir, eventually, something that makes even fans and participants sit up and go “oh, good lord, is this what we’ve sunk to?”

For Britney-watching, it was the 24/7 coverage of her complete meltdown, after which the nation engaged in a sober debate on the ethics of milking celebrities’ difficulties for ratings, and then went looking for nude pictures of Vanessa Hudgens.

For daytime TV, it was “Jenny Jones” and her attempt to out-Springer Springer which went horribly awry, ending in murder. It served as the high-water mark on the loathsome tide of daytime talk shows in the nineties.

With hair-metal, it was Winger.

With the plague of people posting videos on themselves talking onto Youtube, it was Chris Crocker, who singlehandedly breathed new life into the “ex-gay” movement.

And, maybe, please dear Lord, the Gosselins and their full-contact french kiss with Faust will do the same for “reality” TV.

Personally, I would have been more surprised if they announced that they were ending the show to save their marriage, but after watching them bicker through this season, that probably wouldn’t have worked anyway. Some people just aren’t meant to be together forever, and these two have seemed to have some issues for a long time. But now the big question is what will happen with the TLC series “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” and what will happen with the kids.I would hope that this means the show would be over, but now we apparently get to watch not only the dissolution of their marriage (and have to see their faces on every gossip columns that stalks their future relationships) but we get to watch as the kids try and cope with this on TV. Those poor kids. I get that this is reality, but it’s just not a fun show about the chaos of eight children anymore. It’s uncomfortable to watch.

So don’t.

I mean it. Everyone. Stop!

9 thoughts on “Here, My Nadir”

I have nothing to say about the Gosselins, but the title of this post is comedy gold. Somewhere Anna Gordy is sitting in her chair, opening a royalty check for $1.27, wishing she were half as clever.

Well played, sir.

Hah! I wondered if anyone would get the reference!

It’s uncomfortable to watch.

That’s why I mostly watch Univision these days (Primer Impacto, Noticiero, Ultima Hora, etc.), or at least until their analog channel goes out . . .

With hair-metal, it was Winger.

“Madelaine” actually rocks, Mitch. Their other stuff is, eh, so-so (and yeah, “She’s only Seventeen” has only gotten ickier over the years . . .)

Er, my 7 year old (8 on Saturday!) loves that flippin’ show. I haven’t let her see any of this seasons’ episodes. In fact I removed all the listings for J & K + 8 from my home built Linux DVR, so she can’t record it even if she tried.

But now I get to break the news of the big breakup… I think I’ll start by telling her the old joke, “the cat’s on the roof and I can’t get her down”. Which, of course, ends with the brilliant punchline, “Mom’s on the roof, and I can’t get her down”. Would that be strategic, or tactical?

bp, Univision is every bit as bad if not worse. El Gordo y la Flaca is pretty much all celeb misbehavior all the time. Same thing with weepy Cristina episodes. Noticiero and Ultima Hora are news shows focused on horrific violent crimes and kidnappings in Latin America, esp. Mexico. It’s as if the National Enquirer had it’s own spanish language channel with some telenovelas thrown in at prime time and lunchtime.